Conflicting Perspectives Essay - Representation and Text
- Submitted by: jjane
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 03/12/2010 04:20 PM
- Pages: 9
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Conflicting perspectives are different points of view expressed and influenced by ones context and values. “Birthday Letters” by Ted Hughes is an anthology of poems challenging the accusation that he was responsible for his wife, Sylvia Plath’s death. The three poems Fulbright scholars, The Shot, and Red are an insight into Hughes justification of the death of Plath using a very subjective and emotive poetic form. The poems hold many deliberate techniques such as extended metaphors, connotations, diction and juxtaposition to encourage the audience to accept his argument that he was not the one to blame for this world renown tragedy. The film “Forbidden Lies” (Palace Films 2007) covers the journey of the lies of a woman influencing public perception, representing events selectively to make them more enticing and claiming them true. This film holds the conflicting perspective of appearance versus reality. “Light is Like Water” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez highlights the conflicting perspectives of adults and children and the limits of their minds. These last two texts both highlight the notion of conflicting perspectives holding linking devices to strengthen Ted Hughes implicit argument.
Fulbright Scholars is the first poem in the “Birthday Letters” anthology. It is the representation of the first time Ted Hughes saw his future partner Sylvia Plath. The opening of this poem starting with the rhetorical question “where was it, in the strand?” sets up the tension between the conflicting perspectives of his memory and hindsight. The rhetorical questions dominate this poem creating a tone of questioning and uncertainty. This tone is enhanced through the use of words like “maybe” and “or.” Contrast is shown through diction, the word choices in the poem. The contrast of first and second person perspectives is made obvious through “I” and “you.” This choice highlights conflicting perspectives within their relationship. The frequent use of personal pronouns conveys a sense of...
Fulbright Scholars is the first poem in the “Birthday Letters” anthology. It is the representation of the first time Ted Hughes saw his future partner Sylvia Plath. The opening of this poem starting with the rhetorical question “where was it, in the strand?” sets up the tension between the conflicting perspectives of his memory and hindsight. The rhetorical questions dominate this poem creating a tone of questioning and uncertainty. This tone is enhanced through the use of words like “maybe” and “or.” Contrast is shown through diction, the word choices in the poem. The contrast of first and second person perspectives is made obvious through “I” and “you.” This choice highlights conflicting perspectives within their relationship. The frequent use of personal pronouns conveys a sense of...